Hindu Mathematics – How Original Was It?

most fascinating and informative Dr Hoodbhoy! especially liked the "Cultural pride creates its own versions of truth."

also the context of every 'discovery' or idea is important too ...for what purpose was it originally discovered/used for .... which gives one the understanding of why it was deemed important by the discoverer

there are some fascinating art work from as far back as 30-40,000 years discovered in caves in parts of Australia ... but did it 'truly' mean what we think it might have meant to the natives? ... these questions are rather difficult to answer

Thank you!
Great piece. Yes, maths is the exactest of all human branches of learning. I will look up the book--maybe even order it for our mathematic department.

Good piece. Should deflate the exaggerated pride of quite a few here on Chowk!
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide

Well, it is not a great idea to suggest something more wrong than right in title?

[[Hindu Mathematics – How Original Was It?]]


While in all of his article, Pervez Hoodbhoy, doesn't say that anything was unoriginal, he still kept it as sugestive heading. Same will be true for that German Author as well.


Unfortunately, even Pervez Hoodbhoy, has to become quite insincere in his approach while writing about the so called Hindu mathematics.


First the Islamic thing he talked about starts in 11th 14th century, while almost all of those hindu matheticians (the list mentioned here) came before 800-900 AD. Secondly, there are great details of how and what Al-kindi (Brahmin teacher), Al-Beiruni and other Arab scholars learned from Hindus of yesteryears but not the other way round. Even pythagorus is supposed to have travelled and learnt from Indian or Brahmins or Hindu mathematics. Greek were in awe of Indian intelligence not because in later years something from them will reach to Indians, because they know something about India or Hinduism that in their opinion was "wise". Even today Greeks won't deny this but Europeans/Americans who "hinge" on Greek as their "status" of civilization will find it hard to think that Greek learnt anything from Indians.


So till 1000 AD, how original Hindu mathematics was, there is a simple but somewhat egostical answer to that: 300BC Budhdhism itself was more or less Indian or Hindu business). All this suggests how all minds becomes biased and how even scientists have to surf over bias all the time. When you know that 90% probability is of one thing and still you suggest something else, you are more something "else" then scientific. And "else" wins, where else = ego or identity. Now if you can't control your ego while being a commited scientist please don't accuse those politicians or right wing people.

Talking about ancient India, while Hindu become unreasonable and try to take 600BC to 1600BC or 2600BC, the Europeans always do the opposite, they tend to post-date everything related to India because of their somewhat recent past and also because of religious traditions.

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there is no islamic or hindu or christian knowledge but human knowledge..itis a compendium that grows from influences from the, realities of the now and the dreams of the future....it evolves and changes as humans do. I ti pathetic I think that people get all worked up or take ownership over knowledge.

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masadi yaar, if that was the case, technological advancement, medical advancement, that we have seen in the last 50-100 yrs wouldn't have been possible. A patent never stops anyone from inventing or building upon it. patronage for discovery has been as old as humans themselves.

"Good piece. Should deflate the exaggerated pride of quite a few here on Chowk!"

+++++

Did you even read the article?

"there is no islamic or hindu or christian knowledge but human knowledge..itis a compendium that grows from influences from the, realities of the now and the dreams of the future....it evolves and changes as humans do. I ti pathetic I think that people get all worked up or take ownership over knowledge"

++++++++

Is the right answer!

hindu mathmatics as in al-hindi is a reasonable construct as in mathematical tradition of hindia in the sense that it had a particular method, structure and practice. its not about hindu religion. similarly, its probably correct to consider arabi mathematics. moslem mathematics is also an ok thing to consider if a specifically islamic tradition is established which results in mathematics in say philippines in that tradition.

The story of human civilization is the story of the contributions made by various great civilizations at various times in its history - be they Chinese, Indian, Greek, Arab or European.

I however have a slight problem with the title - it's more accurate to call this mathematics Indian rather than hindu. Who knows what faiths Aryabhata or Mahadeva practised, whether they were Buddhists, Jains, Shaivites or atheists? The same would be true of several Greek, Arab or Italian scientists whose achievement is not that of the faith they might have belonged to.

We should also not begrudge the eurocentric credit for most advancement; after all almost all of the major scientific and technological progress over the last twenty or so generations has taken place in Europe.

I agree with dost_mittar. It was Indian, not 'Hindu' mathematics. I wish Mr Hoodhboy had not labelled it so.

Re: # 14
The author clearly argues that math was developed by various peoples such as Indians and Arabs to satisfy their religious needs/duties of building temples or determining the direction for prayers, etc. Hence the labels "Hindu" or "Islamic". Here is the specific excerpt:

From this book one understands in fine detail how the early development of Indian mathematics was influenced by the need to build temples of specific proportions, astrological imperatives, etc. It could be argued that Islamic mathematics also had a religious motivation: the need to know precise times for the 5-times daily prayers, the direction of the Qibla, etc.

It also points out how the different civilizations handled knowledge: In India, the knowledge was a tightly-guarded secret held by the Brahmins and there was no rigor of proof.
In the Islamic civilization, there were no class/caste distinctions for sharing knowledge and the rigor of proof was considered essential.
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide